THE FIRST SYMPOSIUM QUESTION IS, “IS THERE AN IMPORTANT distinction between information and knowledge?” Of course, it depends on what is meant by these terms. An advantage (disadvantage?) of formal reasoning is that there, that kind of question does not arise. You must first define your terms, and then it’s usually easy to tell whether there is or is not an important distinction. Some people might say that even informally, the question has no substance until you’ve said what you mean